CU athletic director Mike Bohn announced Thursday at the school's annual football recruiting luncheon in Denver the Buffs will play the Cornhuskers four times between 2018 and 2024.

"That's great, but I would like to play them in the Rose Bowl before then," MacIntyre said when asked about the plan to play the Cornhuskers.

CU and Nebraska could play in several different bowl games matching Pac-12 and Big Ten opponents before renewing their series in the regular season, but that will require MacIntyre and his staff to completely turn things around at CU. The Buffs went 1-11 last season and haven't been to a bowl game since 2007.

Brian Lockridge (20) eludes Eric Martin (46) during the University of Colorado game against Nebraska on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, at Folsom Field in Boulder. (Paul Aiken / Daily Camera)

Bohn announced that CU and Nebraska have agreed to play each other in Lincoln on Sept. 8, 2018, and Sept. 7, 2024, and in Colorado on Sept. 7, 2019, and Sept. 9, 2023.

Through an open records request for the contract between the two schools, the Daily Camera has learned CU holds the option to host its home games in the series at Sports Authority Field in Denver or Folsom Field.

Making any kind of decision about where to play the first of those home games in 2019 is obviously years away, but Bohn said CU would only take the game to Denver if the Buffs were playing at a much more competitive level than they have recently and if there was a realistic chance of a sellout at the roughly 76,000-seat stadium.

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Bohn also noted that the contract is decidedly different from those that govern the CU-CSU series that has been played in Denver in most years since the late 1990s.

CU would control the entire ticket inventory if the game was moved to Denver except for 3,000 tickets each visiting team is entitled to for all four games in the series. Unlike the CSU game, CU season-ticket holders would be able to sit in seats comparable to those they sit in at Folsom Field.

Bohn said moving a game against Nebraska to Denver could increase the revenue from roughly $2 million to approximately $4 million, assuming it was at or near a sellout. The contract requires each visiting team be paid $300,000 and if one school opts out of any game it would owe the other school $1 million.

The games in Nebraska will be officiated by Pac-12 officials and the games in Colorado will be officiated by Big Ten officials.

CU and Nebraska began discussing renewing the series almost as soon as they announced they were leaving the Big 12 Conference back in 2010. CU was the first school to make a move in what has become a massive re-shuffling of conference alignments in the years since. Nebraska made its move to the Big Ten one day later.

It took several years for Bohn and former Nebraska athletic director and football coach Tom Osborne to work out the details, but they reached an agreement on specifics for the series last summer.

"It's something I'm proud to have put together with him," Bohn said.

CU and Nebraska have played each other 69 times, with the Huskers holding a 49-18-2 edge in that series. As that record reflects, its a rivalry that has been largely one-sided, but it became a much more even and competitive series in the mid-1980s until the final game was played as conference foes in November 2010 at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers won preventing the Buffs from a sixth win and bowl eligibility.

"Not to overstate it, but the most prominent negative aspect of joining the Pac-12 was no longer playing the Huskers," Bohn said. "Although we had overwhelming support for joining our new league, there was a respect level and an affinity for that game and we wanted to salute our fans and that's why we did it."

Now that it is in the Pac-12, Colorado already is guaranteed nine games against teams who play at the Bowl Championship Series conference level because it plays nine conference games each season. Bohn said it is appropriate to add a 10th and possibly even an 11th game against a BCS foe in some seasons but he intends to be strategic in doing so.

"I think you think of the Colorado way and the excitement around a series like that," Bohn said. "If we can get a marquee series very similar to some of the other ones we've been successful with, West Virginia, Georgia, if they make sense, then it's something we want to provide to our fan base. We think it helps us in recruiting. It certainly helps us on the national scene and exposing our kids. We're really proud to partner with an institution and program and a former coach we have so much respect for."

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